Seven cyclists killed by unlicensed motorist on drugs in Italy

Although these pictures are horrendous, I feel it’s important to show them. Every motorist taking their driving test should be shown them to demonstrate just how lethal a car can be when driven recklessly. Pictures from the Daily Mail

“Italian police have arrested a man after his car ploughed into a group of cyclists, killing seven of them.

The driver was overtaking on a two-lane road near Lamezia Terme in the southern region of Calabria when he hit the oncoming cyclists, officials said.

Four people were also injured in the collision, including the driver, who is a Moroccan national.

He is being held under police guard in hospital on suspicion of manslaughter, according to the Ansa news agency.

Earlier reports had put the death toll at eight.

Police said the arrested man had been driving without a licence, having had it withdrawn seven months ago for dangerous driving, and that blood tests showed he had been driving under the influence of marijuana.

Visibility and driving conditions were reportedly good at the time.

Ansa reported that the dead men were members of a local amateur racing team affiliated with a gym in Lamezia Terme. They were aged between 35 and 58, it added.

The head of the Italian Cycling Federation, Renato Di Rocco, has denounced the violent “massacre”. ”

When I started writing this blog, I wanted to steer away from the so many negative stories that surround cycling but it seems impossible to write about cycling and not mention a news story such as this.

We often in our society view a crime such as this with less culpability than murder but in this instance it seems impossible not to view it as murder. The driver was already banned from driving yet went out after smoking marijuana.

Renato di Rocco, president of the Italian cycling federation, Federciclismo, said that it was necessary to reflect on a culture that put the car at the centre of everything and the bike in second place. I agree.